Reclaim Your City the NYSAT Way

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of running circles around lower Manhattan, documenting the Public Ad Campaign’s second New York Street Art Takeover. NYSAT aimed to draw attention to the proliferation of illegal street-level billboards – operated for profit by NPA – that contribute to the visual pollution of public space in NYC.

Two-person whitewashing crews hit the streets in the morning, followed by a cadre of artists who made quick work of the newly whitened spaces.

Within hours of beginning the whitewashing operation, NPA’s roving vans of “wildposters” were already hard at work reclaiming their spots (although not without a little resistance…).

Eyewitnesses reported numerous, heated altercations between NYSAT participants and NPA employees. A total of five NYSAT participants were arrested. My hat off to all NYSAT participants and volunteers and a special shout-out to Zoe for her support yesterday.